CleanTech Exhibition in TA emphasizes water tech

CleanTech 2013 provides a hub for the int'l exchange of renewable energy ideas and stresses advancement in water technology.

cleantech exhibition_311.
(photo credit:Mashov Group)

While continuing to provide a hub for the international exchange of renewable
energy ideas, this year’s enormous CleanTech 2013 Exhibition will have an added
stress on the global advancement of water technologies, according to its
president.

This year’s global Clean- Tech convention – the 17th
International Summit and Exhibition for Renewable Energy and Water Technologies,
Recycling and Environmental Quality, Infrastructure and Green Building – will be
held in Tel Aviv on Tuesday and Wednesday, run by the Mashov
Group.

Access to clean and plentiful water, necessary for the operation
of almost all renewable technologies – as well as all basic life functions –
needed to be at the forefront of CleanTech this year, explained exhibition
chairman, Prof. Avner Adin of the Hebrew University.

Adin chairs the
Environmental Sciences Department and also heads the Water Treatment Technology
section of the Soil and Water Sciences Department at the university’s Faculty of
Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences in Rehovot. A former
president of the Israeli Water Association, Adin is also founder, chairman and
chief scientist at global water treatment technologies firm Adin Holdings
Ltd.

“Looking at previous CleanTech conferences, I immediately realized
that the water issue has not been emphasized enough,” Adin told The Jerusalem
Post, in an interview at his Rehovot office last week.

“After all, water
is involved in almost all technology used for cleantech. Water itself is
something that we need to take care of, to avoid polluting, to preserve as part
of the environment. I felt that the water topic has been a bit
neglected,” he said.

While a second annual and likewise gigantic
conference – WATEC: Water Technology and Environment Control Exhibition and
Conference, of which Adin is on the board – focuses on water technologies, it
focuses mainly on Israeli water technologies and displaying these to a global
audience, Adin explained.

CleanTech, on the other hand, is more of a
symbiotic forum for international companies and scholars to exchange ideas and
technologies, rather than simply learning about Israeli innovation, he
added.

“CleanTech is a more eclectic conference that deals with all
aspects of the environment, including water, clean energies, clean
transportation, wind energy, air pollution prevention and other aspects,” he
said.

“It’s also international – we want to become more and more
international, not only in order to help Israeli industries, but to help the
region and the globe by being also exposed to technologies and
know-how.”

Adin is also eager to see a convention that examines “the
interrelationship of industry, academy and government.”

One of the forums
at the exhibition that Adin said he was most looking forward to was the
Water-Energy Nexus Symposium, which explores “the inevitable tie between water
and energy to natural resources that are scarce.”

“I think this is a
connection that has to be studied and strengthened,” he said.

In addition
to Israel’s Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau, some of the keynote speakers
at this conference will include Dr. Glen Daigger, president of the
International Water Association, and Prof. Menachem Elimelech, director of the
Environmental Engineering Program at Yale University.

Looking at the
world of cleantech innovation as a whole, Adin pinpointed Germany as a
forerunner tackling environmental issues, as well as Japan, Canada and
China.

“CleanTech is open not only to countries that are leading, but
it’s also open to countries that are just beginning, or want to have a cleaner
environment and cleaner water,” Adin said.

“This is actually a meeting
point for the more advanced and the less advanced countries. This is
where the business also meets. This Clean- Tech is looking to enhance cleantech
by making it more attractive for business. This is where the people who have the
know-how can do business with people who do not.”